Victoria home, goat purchase, home visit

Friday afternoon Mama and I left the farm almost as soon as I got home. Victoria’s flight back from Honduras was due in that evening and Mama had a list of stores she wanted to visit in the general area of the airport before we met Victoria. I even took off a half hour early that afternoon so Mama could get started earlier. We got to two of the four planned stops before Victoria called to let us know she had landed – almost a half hour earlier than scheduled. We were at our second stop when she called. We were only about fifteen minutes from the airport, so we were able to drive to the terminal and pick her up after she had gotten her luggage. In all, we were in the airport toll tag area less than twenty minutes. That worked out well.

Victoria was exhausted – partly from the trip but mostly from the emotional strain of saying goodbye. She and Savanna both spent Saturday in poor health; one thousand miles apart from each other. It is always anticlimactic to come home, unpack and get into the routine that defines our day-to-day existence. For Victoria it is more difficult than for most. Female issues only added to the physical and emotional strain. She spent all day Sunday in bed as well. By Monday, a holiday, she was showing signs of recovery, but limited her activities – including contact with me and Mama – to a minimum.

Saturday evening, Mama and I went to Rick’s. He and Mama had worked out a price for us to purchase some tri-color goats. It was a steep price, but very much in line with the normal pricing of any marketable stock from Rick’s herd. We spent a long time talking – as is typical – and were about settled on one of the little nanny goats when we began to look at the little bucks he had for sale. After an hour or more of debate and general counsel from Rick, Mama and I decided to get a little buck. I could only afford one at the price agreed. I had planned to get two but had to spend almost the same amount getting us registered with Samaritan insurance. It was time to reinstate my insurance at work, so I needed to make a decision to move to Samaritan or continue paying for Mama’s insurance through work. We chose to make the move in preparation for me leaving my current job within the next two to three months. The sun was setting as we left Bowie, having taken a few minutes to check out our nanny goats Rick is currently running with bucks.

There is one mature buck that I would like to buy if he turns out to have a low sperm count. If his count in healthy, he would be worth $7,500. With a low count, he is worth only about $250. That is a problem for Rick because this champion buck will only successfully breed about half of the nanny goats he is put in with. That means the nanny goats that did not take have to be run with another buck to ensure kids are produced. For me and Mama, that would not be an issue. We would simply run him with our herd for as long as needed to get the nanny goats bred. Any offspring from him would be championship stock. Plus, we would have our tri-color buck to take up the slack. We will see if that works out or not.

Sunday was a normal day. Great services. Lots of fun with the girls. Since it was the day before Memorial Day, we had a fellowship after church. Because of that the girls insisted on coming back for the evening services. Since Monday was a holiday, they were allowed. There was less food set out than is normally done, but there was a pile of brisket sandwiches that made up the difference. The dessert table was overloaded. So, the girls had a lot to choose from in total and a lot of children to play with when the eating was done. We got them home a little before 9 PM.

Monday morning, Mama and I headed for Lawton. We were anxious to see how much progress had been made on the houses – especially the first house we purchased. When we got to the house, we were disappointed by what we saw. Nothing had been done on the first since we had been there in mid-April. Some work had been done on the second house, but not an impressive amount. As we ate lunch Mama and I prayed about what to do. What to say. When I did contact Glenn, I was humble and non-accusatory in my text, but I got an immediate response. Not overly defensive, but he definitely understood the extext of our disappointment. He promised to have the house finished and on the market by the 15^th of June. We are doubtful of that promise and I told Glenn so by letting him know that would be awesome, but I would not hold him to that date; knowing the extent of the work that needs to be completed. He said it was not only possible but that it would be done. We certainly hope he can come through on that promise. We will see.

For now, I am moving my two-week notice date out to the end of July.